Stop. I'm warning you. Don't do it.
Don't post that photo online, send that email or text that message - unless, that is, you want it spread to friends, family, co-workers and possibly even complete strangers around the world.
Privacy in the online world has become a hot button issue lately thanks to at least two well-publicized security flaws and a particularly nasty phishing scam seen last month at popular social networking site Facebook.
One bug briefly allowed private chat messages to be visible to Facebook friends, but tech pundits have been more worried about the site's ever-changing privacy settings and it's brand evolution that has implemented "social plug-ins" on more than 100,000 sites giving Facebook functionality to news, entertainment and other such web portals.
Many users, however, are upset to see their Facebook preferences showing up elsewhere than Facebook, and some have considered deleting their accounts - if only they could figure out how.
According to a CNN story, it is so difficult to do that even tech guru Leo Laporte had to search wikiHow, a how-to site, to figure out how to delete his Facebook account.
Facebook does show you how to disable your account, but that leaves your photos and messages intact somewhere in cyberspace, just in case you decide to reactivate the account.
But say you do delete your Facebook account. Any messages or photos could still reside on Facebook's servers for some time, and they may even have been copied by any of your contacts and posted elsewhere.
Personally, I think these recent Facebook issues only serve to highlight the very narrow-minded view most people have about the Internet.
So, in the name of education and awareness, I thought I could shed some light about online privacy.
Ready?
There is none.
OK, thanks. See you next time.
I see you want a little more explanation.
It's pretty simple actually. No matter what a site may say, or the laws of the land may be, it is simply impossible at this point in time to ensure with any degree of certainty your privacy on the Internet.
I'm not saying it's not safe to buy things online from reputable retailers and web sites.
What I am saying though, is pretty much anything you do online can be traced right back to you, and anything you put out in cyber space can potentially come back to bite you on the butt.
Ask any number of cheating politicians or single number of cheating golfers and they'll say sexy text messages to mistresses are not really a smart idea in hindsight.
Ask any number of still unemployed professionals who were Googled by potential employers about the wisdom of posting pics of the beer chugging contest on Facebook.
If you email a nasty note to your nemesis, rest assured it will get forwarded to at least two other people. Threaten someone anonymously at an online forum and it can still be traced right back to you through your Internet connection.
In the end, for your own security, sanity and self-respect, try to only reveal personal information online that you would comfortably shout out loud on a crowded bus, write emails or text messages that you wouldn't mind posted on a bulletin board at a busy university, and only post pictures you would show to your mom.
